Form

Guidance on how to apply for a watch rating certificate

Updated 22 December 2023

Sea service evidence and documents to obtain a Rating issued by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) are detailed below. Failure to provide all the required evidence may result in your application being delayed or even rejected.

All Applications

Completed application form

• Pay the appropriate fee

• Sign the declaration

Countersignature

Your counter signatory must:

• have known you for at least 2 years

• be able to identify you, for example they’re a friend, neighbour or colleague (not just someone who knows you professionally)

• be ‘a person of good standing in their community’ or work in (or be retired from) a recognised profession

Copy of passport, attested by a responsible person in a recognised profession

• Passport photograph, cropped to 4:3 ratio

ENG1 or accepted equivalent

Must have two forms of sea service evidence:

• Discharge Book or Certificates of Discharge

• Sea Service Testimonials

STCW basic safety training certificates:

• Personal Survival Techniques (STCW Code A-VI/1-1)*

• Fire Prevention and Fire Fighting (STCW Code A-VI/1-2)*

• Elementary First Aid (STCW Code A-VI/1-3)*

• Personal Safety & Social Responsibilities (STCW Code A-VI/1-4)*

*Certificates will be accepted from either an MCA Approved Training provider or a country on the IMO Whitelist

Navigational Watch Rating Certificate – II/4 (WRC)

Sea Service Evidence, as detailed below:

• At least 6 months seagoing service in the Deck Department on vessels of at least 15 metres in Load Line Length, or

• Reduced 2 months seagoing service in the Deck Department on vessels of at least 15 metres in Load Line Length if undertaking ‘special training’, i.e. when following an course given by an MCA approved training provider.

Complete Training Record Book

• Annex A of MSN 1862 should be completed**

• Onboard Training tasks should be signed as completed by a UK CoC or UK FSE holder. Details of the signing officer should be documented in Annex C

**All tasks should be completed, where appropriate, and failure to comply will result in the delay of your application/issue of your licence.

• Applications should be emailed to deck@mcga.gov.uk

• Please ensure your documents are included as attachments or within a .zip folder. Unfortunately, we cannot open .rar extensions or links to file-sharing services (e.g. OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox etc).

Engineering Watch Rating Certificate – III/4 (EWRC)

Sea service Evidence, as detailed below:

• 6 months sea time in the last 5 years on a vessel of

• Of at least 15 meters Load Line Length and,
• Propulsion power of at least 350 kW and,
• Have an engine room of sufficient size and complexity to be assessed in the required competencies

Sea time may be reduced to two months if:

• MCA approved training has been completed – (e.g. Level 2 Award in Maritime Studies, Watch Rating – engine room)

Completed Training Record Book

• Annex A of MSN 1863 should be completed**

• Onboard Training tasks should be signed as completed by a UK CoC or UK FSE holder.
• Details of the signing officer should be documented in Annex B

Steam Tasks

• If you are not able to complete the steam tasks on board a vessel then you may be able to:

• Complete the boiler tasks at a college with a simulator course covering the relevant items, or

• Speak to your company as they may be able to able to arrange for the tasks to be completed at a shore based location, or

If none of the above can be completed then the MCA will issue a limited Watch Rating.

The certificate will state “not valid on ships with steam plant and oil/gas fired boiler”.

**All tasks should be completed, where appropriate, and failure to comply will result in the delay of your application/issue of your licence.

Applications should be emailed to engineering@mcga.gov.uk

Please ensure your documents are included as attachments or within a .zip folder. Unfortunately, we cannot open .rar extensions or links to file-sharing services (e.g. OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox etc).

Electro-Technical Rating – III/7

• UK Citizen, EU Citizens who live in the UK (Hold a UK Passport or valid UK Citizenship evidence)

Sea Service Evidence

• 4 months seagoing service in the last 5 years

• Of which needs to be on ships of 350kW or more

Education and Training

• Before applying for a ETR you must send scan copies of your qualifications to exams@mcga.gov.uk

• ETR TRB should be completed fully prior to applying – ETR TRB

TRB will have to be an attachment alongside the application form, or an in-line attachment

Yacht Rating Certificate II/4

Sea Service Evidence:

• At least 6 months onboard Yacht service which includes at least 2 months of actual seagoing service 
• All vessels need to be at least 15 metres in Load Line Length. 

If either of the following licences are held then this may result in a reduction in sea service: 

• RYA Offshore CoC 
• RYA Ocean CoC 

Potential Reduction

• Yacht service reduced to 2 month actual seagoing service  

• Yacht Rating TRB does not need to be completed 

Complete Training Record Book 

• Annex B of MSN 1862 should be completed**  

• Onboard Training tasks should be signed as completed by a UK CoC or UK FSE holder. 
• Details of the signing officer should be documented in Annex C 

**All tasks should be completed, where appropriate, and failure to comply will result in the delay of your application/issue of your licence.